.

Recent Topics

You are here

Commencement: The Class of 2017

May 10, 2017

This is a moment of new beginnings both for Columbia, as the University opens the first two buildings on its new Manhattanville campus, and for the more than 15,000 members of the Class of 2017 who graduate on May 17. Proving that you’re never too old—or too young—to earn a degree, the Class of 2017 includes Michael Shannon, 82, who will receive a master’s degree in anthropology, and Wanying Li, 19, who will graduate from the Engineering School with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering.

Among the Class of 2017 are almost 200 military veterans as well as some 2,200 international students from more than 110 countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.

All will be waiting to hear University President Lee C. Bollinger proclaim that they have been “admitted to the degree for which you have qualified.” And after dark, the Empire State Building will be lighted in blue to honor the Columbia Class of 2017.